Yesterday Don't Matter
by YouNeverCanTell
Summary: [Azula x Ty Lee] They're each others' dream, and if you give up your dream you lose your mind. [#TyzulaTuesday Drabbles]
1. CRIMSON

**CRIMSON**

The sunset over Ba Sing Se is a flawless reflection of the violence now within the walls.

It is a bloody crimson that matches the gore being spilled inside, and Azula quite enjoys it. Azula is staring at it, and is noticing that she is being stared at as well.

"Are you not watching the sheer beauty of me conquering the Earth Kingdom? I mean, even the sun agrees that this is the most important event in history." Azula gestures loosely towards the slightly red rubble of walls and the crimson sky.

"No," Ty Lee says calmly, and Azula thinks she might not even know what the word treason means. "I'm watching something way more beautiful."

Azula hesitates. Ty Lee's face crimsons.

"That is the worst pick-up line I have ever heard in my life."

"Well-well _I_ can't talk powerful people into giving me Ba Sing Se, okay? That's the best I can do!" Ty Lee exclaims before covering her mouth. Her face is redder than the sky now.

"No. But actions speak almost as loud as words like mine," Azula says without turning around. She can't quite look away.

Ty Lee smiles, and for the rest of the night Azula has a crimson mark on her neck that she doesn't bother hiding.


	2. SHINY

**SHINY**

Ty Lee didn't love dancing until she dances with Azula for the first time.

As a little girl, Ty Lee twirls and twirls with beautiful, shiny silk that she wishes were real fire.

She takes these boring dancing lessons that she _does_ think are for pretty girls, but the prettiest girl gets to take firebending lessons. Ty Lee shines when she spins as a glittering blur of scarves and her dress and her swaying, graceful movements. But Azula is a blue supernova that is blinding in her glow.

Ty Lee watches her from the window, sitting with the sunshine warming her back.

Azula looks oddly like Ty Lee does when she dances, except there is so much more passion in her. The way she breathes, the way she steps, the way she shines; Azula loves firebending. Ty Lee does not think she loves dancing.

Ty Lee didn't love dancing until she dances with Azula until the first time.

"It's like firebending," Ty Lee whispers as she feels Azula begin to tense up. She knows the princess will flee if she doesn't succeed. "It's exactly like that."

Or they could really just sway and the lights at Katara and Aang's wedding would focus solely on them. Because they glow when they are together no matter how well they dance or how stunning Azula is surrounded by fire.

"I suppose it is," Azula says, shrugging it off as casual and easy as she finally falls into the steps that Ty Lee takes. "Where did you learn this bending dancing anyway?"

 _From watching you_.

"Just figured it out one day," Ty Lee lies.

Azula doesn't bother asking for the truth as they sway and shimmer.


	3. STARLET

**STARLET**

"So," Mai asks at the campfire, "why did you give up on your dreams of stardom?"

Ty Lee stares into the flames and enjoys the way they sting her eyes even from a distance. She shrugs at first, because words don't come easy to her.

"I was in the circus doing circus stuff, right?" Ty Lee replies and Mai nods. "Well, when I was up there doing a routine that they called me _the gem of the circus, the star of our show, that pretty starlet there_ for, I could only look at her."

"Because she was probably going to kill you?" Mai suggests.

"No," Ty Lee says, gently shaking her head. "Because she was really the star in that room. She was blinding but, like, impossible to stop looking at."

Mai contemplates it for a moment before offering her most lackadaisical shrug.

"And you want a piece of that?" Mai doesn't realize how sexual that sounded until it is too late. But Ty Lee offers a seductive smirk.

"In more ways than one…"


	4. TWIRLING

**TWIRLING**

A ten-year-old Ty Lee spins around with these delicate steps that make Azula roll her eyes. She has two sticks in one hand and they are actively sparking as she makes circles around herself in lingering smoke.

"This is fun," Ty Lee says with a wide grin. "Come try!"

Azula shakes her head. "You look immature and ridiculous twirling around with those. We have better things to do today than whatever _that_ is."

Ty Lee smiles and drops the sparkles on the gravel, stomping them out with one foot. She looks up at Azula and asks very graciously, "What do you wanna do, princess?"

Azula beckons for Ty Lee to follow.

Ty Lee frowns and bites her lip to quell tears the moment Azula turns around.


	5. OXYGEN

**OXYGEN**

Azula wants to feel her heart beating until they run out of time.

They breathe each other in like the two of them are both oxygen. They need to make the best of what is left for them as they await the coup in the morning. Azula wanted someone in bed with her, and Ty Lee assumed it was about some kind of sexual preparation… which it was, but now they lie together and neither wants to be the first to let go.

Ty Lee just listens to Azula's beating heart, and Azula feels Ty Lee's breath quicken to be in time with Azula's.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

They would suffocate without each other.


	6. BORED

**BORED**

"I'm bored already," Mai says as she looks around the party. She sucks at parties, even these stuffy political debacles. "Zuko, make this interesting."

Zuko perks up, swallowing. He clearly does not know how to keep his girlfriend entertained. He does offer her his hand, and he does walk her away. Azula does not think he will manage to amuse her, or even make her smile.

"They are _so cute_ ," Ty Lee swoons and Azula looks at her in disgust.

"They are pathetic," the princess replies and Ty Lee straightens her back.

"I wish somebody would do that with me," she says dreamily, her eyes too _glowy_.

"Hold your hand?" Azula asks.

"Yes. I wish somebody would hold my hand."

Azula is silent for a moment. "You may ask if I will hold your hand."

"Will you hold my hand?" Ty Lee clasps her hands together. Her eyes sparkle.

"No."


	7. BLUE

**BLUE**

Ty Lee didn't know that Azula could get hurt.

But there the princess is, with bruises on her arm. Black and blue.

"Do you need any help?" Ty Lee asks and Azula just looks at her. She has too much pride to ask for anything she needs. Princess Azula doesn't need anything from anyone. "I can help you. I want to help you."

"I don't think you're a very competent healer," Azula says and Ty Lee sighs. "Maybe you can kiss it better."

Ty Lee is certain that was sarcasm, but she is frustrated that Azula doesn't need her. It's not about want, it's about _need_.

And Ty Lee kisses one of those bruises.

Azula doesn't push her away, and so she moves her lips up and kisses Azula on the mouth.

After that, it's only sliding onto her lap.

Maybe she can kiss bruises better. Ty Lee's lips wander and graze against Azula's shoulder.

Maybe she can just make some bruises on her neck to match.


	8. PARTY

**PARTY**

Ty Lee loves to feel the music, drink the drinks, mingle with people, avoid flirting at all costs, stop her girlfriend from getting into bar fights. Parties are delightful and one of the best things Ty Lee can think of.

Azula does not like parties. She hates the effort, hates the people, hates how degraded it makes her feel to share drinks with commoners. But she goes to them, which, many would call inexplicable.

She goes to them because Ty Lee does, and Azula really just wants that girl to be happy.

Thankfully, Ty Lee is remarkably easy to please.

Parties are dreadful; the stolen kisses during them are not..


	9. DRY

**DRY**

Azula starts a fire when she is eight.

Not intentionally. It isn't _her_ fault that the grass is so dry. Someone should take better care of it, to be honest.

"I am going to get murdered," Azula whispers to Ty Lee. The only witness, but no one would take her word for anything.

"Don't get murdered," Ty Lee says before pulling Azula into a hug. "I can't live without you."

"I know," Azula says, shrugging Ty Lee off. "But my dad is not gonna be happy."

"I'm gonna tell him I did it."

"That _you_ started a fire?" Azula cocks an eyebrow.

"Mhm. I will!" Ty Lee says in earnest.

"That's…" Sweet but stupid.

Azula likes sweet but stupid sentiments.


	10. LIPSTICK

**LIPSTICK**

"So, Mai, cute and girly," Ty Lee says slowly, holding up light pink, "or super sexy," she continues, holding up dark red.

Mai could not possibly care less about the lipstick Ty Lee wears on her first date with Azula. But she sighs.

"Cute and girly. Azula will go as super sexy, as you put it, and don't copy her," Mai says before pausing. "No. Copy her. She's into herself I think. If she could marry and or fuck herself, she would. Super sexy."

Ty Lee rolls her eyes.

"Cute and girly it is!" she declares.

Mai sighs. "You were going to the opposite of what I said, weren't you?"

Ty Lee winks. "Yup!"


	11. MARATHON

**MARATHON**

Azula and Ty Lee's lips briefly break from the long kiss. Darkness surrounds them; only moonlight and candles brighten the dim room and illuminate their half-naked frames.

They have – uh – plans for tonight. Plans that have not been possible for some time, because being _adults_ is terrible.

With her hand snaking up Ty Lee's short robe, Azula softly says, "All night?"

Nothing needs to be said. It might as well be rhetorical.

But Ty Lee whispers back, "Of course."

They stumble, tangled, on the way to their tumble. As they hit the bed they knew I was the first moment of what they hope will be many in their – uh – marathon tonight.

It escalates faster than a fire consuming dry leaves.

And they are halfway finished before a pounding on their bedroom door makes them jump apart from each other.

"MAMA, MOM, MAMA, MOM!" screeches a very impatient young child.

"Zuko cannot babysit to save his life," Azula hisses under her breath.

Azula and Ty Lee exchange a defeated glance.

So much for _all night long_.


	12. BLOOM

**BLOOM**

The bruises bloom blue and fade yellow.

They are the remnants of fingers digging into the thighs, the marks of sucking on skin, broken blood for a broken relationship that holds itself together tenaciously.

The bruises on the inside bloom like moonflowers – in the partial shade. Halfway, they can see them in each other and halfway they look the other way. It hurts to love so hard, and their love only blossoms over the years. The shadows of lies protect the piercing light of truth.

They bruise each other and burn each other but they heal each other too.

Isn't heartbreak how love best flowers?


	13. GOODBYE

**GOODBYE**

Ty Lee does not want to say goodbye.

In so many ways. She has a half-dead girl lying in her bed, a girl who showed up while snow gathered on the trees. Ty Lee does not know what pushed them together. Azula probably has a thousand eyes out there that are loyal to her still, loyal to an empire that is too old to fall so fast.

She does everything she can.

Azula does not say much.

"Don't leave me again," Ty Lee says softly. "Don't leave me again. I guess I left you a couple times and I guess it's kind of mutual and stuff, but you can't go without saying goodbye again."

"If I never say goodbye, that means I'm definitely coming back. Keep that in mind." It is the most coherent thing Azula has said since she showed up this afternoon.

Ty Lee manages to walk out of the room. She cries.

She cries all night long, and as the moon is high in the sky, she dresses herself and walks out into the snow. Her trip to the pretty little luck spirit temple doesn't take very long, and it goes by like a blur when her head is elsewhere.

Ty Lee cuts off her braid.

Azula lives.


	14. ISLAND

**ISLAND**

Ty Lee does not think she has ever seen Azula look so beautiful, and Azula is the most beautiful person Ty Lee has ever known.

At the moment, they are on Ember Island. They took their daughter to the Summer Palace for the first time and it has been flawless. Nothing ever has been flawless for them. Maybe Ember Island has some kind of magic.

Azula has her hair down, and Ty Lee forced a flower into it earlier. It looks stunning. Azula did not take it out, which Ty Lee considers to be a great victory. Azula is half-dressed, which Ty Lee loves. Azula glows in the sunset almost as much as she glows in the sunrise.

She plays with her little girl, which is the most beautiful sight.

Azula has never been good at raising a child. But, of course, Ty Lee still loves her.

Ty Lee does not know how someone she has been with so long still makes her heart race.

Maybe because Azula is so damned beautiful.


	15. LETHAL

**LETHAL**

"You're reckless," Ty Lee complains, her concerned eyes focused on Azula. They have been together for a few months and it has been a tumultuous ride, but now, Ty Lee cannot help but fear the way her prim princess turned out. "I think that's sexy, but I also don't want you to be like that because it's scary."

Azula scoffs. She is _very_ tired of this talk. Ty Lee is not her mother or father and has no right to criticize.

"Believe me; I am more lethal than anything in the world," Azula argues. She sees nothing wrong with her actions and cannot imagine anything hurting _her_.

"I'm not worried about somebody or something else. I know how powerful and dangerous you are. I'm worried about you hurting you. Why are you so self-destructive? You were never like that," Ty Lee says. She knows she probably will not get her point across.

"I am not," Azula snaps. "I adore myself."

"Consciously," Ty Lee whispers. Azula does not like to be psychoanalyzed, particularly by the woman who has the privilege of her romantic affection.

"What would you have me do?" Azula asks.

"I just don't ever want to lose you _ever_."

Azula cocks an eyebrow.

"You are remarkably selfish," she states.

Ty Lee smiles.

"Well, that makes two of us."


	16. CAREGIVER

**CAREGIVER**

"There's a storm coming, I think," says Ty Lee. "The birds are singing like it."

"The _birds_ are singing like it?" Azula asks, cocking an eyebrow. She has a child on her lap and her focus has been on not dropping her or losing her or an owl-hawk grabbing her or something along those lines. She does not know how Ty Lee can even hear birds when their small daughter is outside in the dangerous courtyard.

"Yeah. Also there are a huge clouds up there that look really angry, but mostly I'd say the birds," Ty Lee says.

Azula laughs and nearly drops the one year old child.

It starts to rain. Said child starts to wail.

Azula hands the crying child to the bird song expert and goes inside before she gets more _water_ on her skin.


	17. ORANGE

**ORANGE**

Azula examines the orange slice. It is imperfect, and so she discards it like the others of its kind. Azula cannot find a decent piece on the third orange and is about to just cut her losses and burn them all when she notices someone beside her.

Ty Lee picks up one of the flawed pieces and eats it.

Why? Azula has no clue, but she does not bother stopping her. If she wants to eat scraps, she can.

Ty Lee kisses her and Azula cannot help but lick the juice off of her lips.

That may be from flawed fruit, but it is a perfect kiss.


	18. BLINDFOLD

**BLINDFOLD**

It is shadowy save for the flickering light of fifteen candles. It is an empty room save for two scantily clad women.

"Don't light on fire, though. Should I turn them off? Should you turn them off, I guess?" asks Ty Lee, setting the strip of scarlet fabric down on her lap.

Azula sighs, rolls her eyes and snatches up the blindfold.

"I will not light on fire, and I have no reason to turn these off," the princess snaps. Her patience has run dry.

She wraps it around her eyes and ties it. It begins to slip, and so Ty Lee tightens it into a pretty knot. Ty Lee gently touches her elbow and kisses her on the neck.

"Okay," Azula says, "I can absolutely beat you at this game blindfolded."

Ty Lee frowns and empties the pieces from the box.

They sit across from each other on a bed and toy with tiles.


	19. ILLNESS

**ILLNESS**

Ty Lee does not show her fear. She does not mention her fear. It makes her feel like a terrible person to be afraid of this.

It all comes pouring out, however, to Fire Lord Zuko.

"Were you scared that Izumi would be crazy?" she says. Ty Lee had really hoped that she would have cushioned that statement somehow. It sounded way better in her head.

"Yes," Zuko replies, calmly, as if it is simple and not so complicated that Ty Lee thinks she might explode. "My family has a history of that. She still could be. She's, uh, two, and she's pretty oppositional and screams a lot, but I think all two-year-olds might do that."

Ty Lee stops biting on her thumbnail.

"Why are you so calm about this?" she whispers, making Zuko laugh for some reason. She does not get it. "I'm terrified. She's having a baby and I'm terrified that my baby will be not healthy because everybody just wants their baby to be healthy."

"Your baby probably won't be," Zuko says honestly. It is the cold, bitter truth.

"Zuko!" Ty Lee screeches.

"But if anyone is equipped to deal with my family's incredible insanity, it's you. You do really well with my sister," he says, shrugging as if it is natural and not so frightening that Ty Lee has not slept in weeks. "I'd be way worse with Izumi than you'd ever be with your kid."

"Azula is different. I know her. I've known her for her whole life."

"Can I point out that you'd actually know your child for longer?"

"I guess I would," Ty Lee admits begrudgingly. "Okay, okay, so I guess I can handle insanity but what if my baby is _ugly_? That's way worse!"


	20. COMBINATION

**COMBINATION**

"You want the person in your head, not the person she really is," says Suki, squeezing Ty Lee's shoulder.

Ty Lee gently shrugs her off. She meets Suki's gaze and then looks at her feet.

"I want a combination of both. Why can't I have both?" Ty Lee asks, her lip trembling. She stiffens it and takes a deep breath. "I love her, no matter what. I love her and I see the person in my head in her, like, it's both. She's both, I mean."

Suki looks skeptical, which makes Ty Lee want to run away. The acrobat stays, however, because she needs a friend, even a friend who disagrees with her about the most important thing in her life.

"Please don't go back to the Fire Nation. You dated other people while she was gone, and you were happy. She's just an obsession and to her I think you're just an infatuation… or a game." Suki gives Ty Lee a pleading glance.

Ty Lee ignores her and walks away.


	21. CHARITY

**CHARITY**

"I never thought I'd see you at a charity function," Ty Lee whispers the moment she sees the princess. She really cannot believe it, because it is hard to get Azula to go anywhere in public. "It isn't really your kind of party."

Azula takes Ty Lee by the wrist. "I never thought I'd see you dancing with me when you're married."

"But I'm not—" Ty Lee gets the comment the moment Azula drags her into an opening in the crowd. Everyone can see them.

Ty Lee, surprisingly, does not care one bit.

She feels on top of the world right now.


	22. NYCTOPHOBIA

**NYCTOPHOBIA**

Azula and Ty Lee are in a dark closet. They happen to be hiding, but Ty Lee keeps shaking. Princess Azula rolls her eyes and sets her hand over Ty Lee's mouth.

"You breathe too loud," Azula hisses before receding further into the shadows.

"I'm scared of the dark," Ty Lee says into her girlfriend's hand.

"You are an adult and cannot be scared of the dark," Azula snaps, swallowing when she realizes that they might be overheard. So much for effectively _hiding_.

Ty Lee shrugs. Azula leans back against the wall.

This will be a very, very long night.


	23. PALACE

**PALACE**

"You're a princess. You live in a palace," Ty Lee insists, but it does not sway Azula.

"I'm a prisoner who happens to be imprisoned in a palace. There could not be more of a difference," Azula coolly replies, the jaded look in her eyes enough to discourage anyone but the girl in bright pink. "No one treats me like a princess. They treat me like a dog missing a leg."

"Do I?" Ty Lee cocks her head. Azula thinks about it for a moment.

"No. You treat me exactly as you have always treated me, which is somehow even worse," Azula says. Ty Lee scratches her head. "You're… chipper. Agni, I never thought I would ever use that word. I am a ghost. When is the last time you saw someone adorable and perky with someone who has given up on life like me?"

"Not enough of them. No one would give up on life if they had a personal cheerleader." Ty Lee grins.

Azula thinks of several arguments but discards them before they leave her lips.

"Now, what exactly does personal cheerleader entail?" inquires Azula.

"Whatever you want, except for leaving you alone or ever being negative or ever letting you quit at things." Ty Lee smiles.

"Well, perhaps you treat me the most like a princess should be treated."

Azula allows Ty Lee to kiss her.


	24. MIDNIGHT

**MIDNIGHT**

It is midnight and Azula and Ty Lee are sitting awake in a lonely corner of the palace.

Azula kisses Ty Lee, and Ty Lee kisses Azula.

"It's late," says Azula, the moment she realizes what she has done. "We should go back to bed. Back to—back to elsewhere."

Ty Lee sees her blush and can't help but smile. Azula never gets flustered and it makes Ty Lee feel like the most important person in the whole world.

"Whatever you want, princess," Ty Lee says.

Azula remembers why she is called princess. She will have an empire one day. And therefore she has incredible power. And therefore she can honestly do whatever she pleases.

"I want to stay here and make out."

Decisiveness is an important leadership trait.


	25. HOPELESS SITUATION

**HOPELESS SITUATION**

Zuko says to Ty Lee, "It's a bit of a hopeless situation. She can't really do much other than lock herself up and let her demons eat her up. I've tried everything."

Ty Lee blinks back tears and smiles. "You haven't tried me. Or I haven't tried. Whichever of those sounds better. I don't think it's hopeless."

"Why are you helping?"

"Because I love her. I've always loved her and I always will," Ty Lee says. "And love makes you hope and hope, even when you shouldn't."

Zuko does not understand, but he believes her.

Ty Lee marches off to face her fate with Azula.


	26. PRETTY GIRL

**PRETTY GIRL**

Ty Lee thinks Azula's soul is made of liquid sunrises.

But, one afternoon a few years after the war ended, Mai says offhandedly to her friend, "She's pretty on the surface. That's why she's dangerous. On the inside, she's not."

Ty Lee swiftly says, "She's beautiful on the inside too. She has beautiful eyes."

"They're gold with nice lashes," Mai dryly replies.

Irrational anger surging within, Ty Lee states, "She has beautiful, expressive eyes that make me so happy. You can see what her soul is made of in them."

"Azula is a good actress. Her eyes are masks," Mai says, of which she is certain. Anyone would be. Anyone but Ty Lee, apparently.

"Her eyes are shreds of sunlight and you shut up about my true love."

"I will shut up about your true love." Mai sighs and studies her fingernails.

Pouting, the acrobat glowers at the fluffy white clouds above.

Ty Lee _knows_ Azula's soul is made of liquid sunrises.


End file.
